Ron's Imaginary Friend
by honeycoffeemaker
Summary: In the battle for Hogwarts Ron and his friends get some unexpected help.


The Death Eaters did not know what hit them. Judging from the trajectory, the small knives came from a broken window on the right side of the court.

 _Who brings knives to a wand fight?_ Ginny thought.

A bright light illuminated the courtyard, and where the knives had been, was now a stone wall. One of Voldemort's followers had noticed the origin of the weird knives as well and used a spell to collapse the wall, behind which they presumed the attacker. A cloud of dust rolled out from the hole in the side of the castle.

One of the others threw a spell at the wall that had appeared out of nowhere, but nothing happened. There were only some arcs of light running over the wall.  
"What the...?" the Death Eater said into the silence.

A figure emerged from the dust cloud — probably the attacker — and swiftly hid behind the seemingly indestructible wall as the dark wizards flung spells at it. The figure was a man of medium height, with short gold-blond hair. Ginny did not see his face, because he immediately turned around and drew something on the ground. With extraordinary speed he drew a circle with a pentagram inside.

He threw some knives, and they landed at the corners of the pentagram. Taking a step back he threw some more of those small triangular knives over the wall and touched the circle on the ground. Again that bright bluish white light flashed and she could see some of the Death Eaters flying across the yard.

The man pulled black leather gloves out of his pocket, quickly took off his long brown coat and put the gloves on. He moved so quickly that Ginny couldn't quite see what he was doing, before he placed his palms on the wall and again the blue light illuminated the yard. Something flowed out of the wall and onto his arms. When the light died down the man's arms up to his elbows were covered in shiny metal armour. The leather gloves seemed to have fused with it.

He touched the wall again, and it burst, sending debris flying towards the remaining Death Eaters. Before they could throw more curses at him, the man ran towards them at high speed. One of the dark wizards raised his wand, but never got the chance to release the curse. The blond grabbed his wrist, pulled him forward and punched him in the face with his other hand. He flung the Death Eater at one of Voldemort's other followers, kicked third and punched the fourth so hard, she could heard the nauseating sound of their nose breaking. All Death Eaters were on the ground now, at least two of them with fractured noses.

The stranger put his hands together and touched the ground. Arcs of light traveled across the yard and all Death Eaters found themselves trapped by stone shackles. One of the Hufflepuffs seized the moment and collected the Death Eater's wands.

The blond placed his palms together again and the metal on his arms retracted into a slab on his hand, which he put in his pocket. He walked over, picked up his coat and dusted it off.

Ginny could now see the stranger better. He had a handsome face and bright amber eyes that reminded her of molten gold. He appeared to be in his late teens or early twenties although his clothes, the off-white dress shirt, dress pants and suspenders, looked like they were straight out of the beginning of the century.

"Who are you?" Ron asked, wand at the ready as the young man walked over. When he saw her brother, he stifled a smile. The stranger pulled a book out of his coat pocket and everyone just looked at him in confusion. Until...

"No. Fucking. Way!" Ron exclaimed, absolute disbelief on his face. He lowered his wand, gaping at the blond who smiled brightly at her brother.  
"Hi, Ron!" he said and gave him a little wave with his gloved hand. Her brother walked over and flung his arms around the stranger. After a brief moment of shock, the stranger's face softened and he returned the hug.

Ginny was confused now. Her brother was not someone who just hugged random people, but she was sure that he did not have friends outside of Hogwarts and she knew all of those.

There was a stunned silence as the guys stood there in a tight embrace. Ron and the blond exchanged a few words, but they were too far away for anyone to hear.  
"Ron?" Ginny asked uncertainly.  
Her brother let go of the young blond man and took a step back.

"They thought I was crazy, you know?" Ron said to the guy. "That I was imagining things." He turned around and said to the others: "Well, guess what! My 'imaginary friend' just saved your sorry asses."  
"What?" asked a Ravenclaw.

"Who is he?" Ginny demanded to know. Somewhere in the castle, something exploded and they could feel the the tremor under their feet.  
"I'm on your side," the blond interrupted. "Let's save explanations for later; there's still fighting going on."

Another explosion rocked the castle.  
"Right," Ron agreed and the students spread out to help their classmates and teachers.

* * *

After the battle, the house-elves put together a makeshift dinner and set up some of the undamaged classrooms for the tired wizards. Hermione found Mr and Mrs Weasley, Harry and the twins in the transfiguration room. The tables had been moved to the sides and a big long table filled most of the free space. Mrs Weasley put a blanket around Harry's shoulders and handed him a steaming cup. He was pale, which made the bags under his eyes more noticeable.

The twins sat on a couch, talking to their father. Fred's arm was in a sling, so George gestured for him, frantically flailing his arms while looking at their dad. He made a face and let himself fall to the side. Fred had to interrupt his story for a fit of laughter.

Hermione helped Mrs Weasley to set up the table with the plates and cutlery the house-elves had provided.  
Ginny entered soon after, the house-elves in tow. They brought sandwiches, stew and hot soup. It smelled fantastic and she was suddenly aware of her growling stomach.  
Ginny hugged her mother before coming over to Hermione.

"You okay?" Ginny asked, the cut on her forehead creasing as she furrowed her brows.  
"I will be," Hermione answered truthfully.

The house-elves had left and after she had inspected the table, Mrs Weasley turned towards them, motioned for Ginny and Hermione to sit. In the direction of the couch she called: "Dinner is ready, Come Honey. Fred, George."  
The twins got up lighting-fast and took two chairs at the table.

Ginny sat down next to Harry, who had not moved much since she had arrived. However, after drinking the hot tea, he had gained back some color on his face.  
Mr and Mrs Weasley sat on the other side of the table. Hermione opened her mouth to ask about the others when-  
"Oh, that's _him_ ," Fred said to his father and nodded in the direction of the door. Mr Weasley turned around in his seat.

Ron had just entered the room with a young man she had never seen before. He wore a maroon T-shirt, she recognised as one of Ron's and dark dress pants that did not go very well with the shirt. The stranger had short blond hair, amber eyes and lightly tanned skin. Ron was about 10 centimeters taller than the young man who in turn was more broad shouldered than the wizard. He smiled brightly at something Ron said, as they walked over to table.

Hermione leaned over to Fred and asked "Who is he?"  
"His imaginary friend," George said as if that was an answer. She frowned at him with made both twins laugh. _What did you expect, Hermione?_ , she thought.  
"That's my family!" Ron gestured towards the table as he and the stranger came closer.

"My parents—" —they smiled and waved— "my sister Ginny, Fred and George—" "—I'm George! That's Fred", Fred interjected but Ron ignored him "—and my friends, Hermione and Harry." He pointed them out then frowned and stiffened.  
"Mom, where are Bill and Percy?"

"Oh! They are fine!" She reassured him. "Bill was exhausted and fell asleep and Percy…" she looked at her husband.  
"He injured his leg and is in the hospital wing." Mr Weasley finished her sentence. "Poppy didn't want _us all_ in there."

Some of the tension left Ron's shoulders. He glanced at the stranger beside him who had stood there politely, looking around the room, while the family matters were sorted out.  
"Right." Ron cleared his throat and said "Everyone, this is Alphonse."

"Nice to meet you," Alphonse said and bowed to them. Hermione exchanged a look with Ginny as Ron ushered Alphonse to the empty seat next to Mrs Weasley. She gave her a questioning expression, but the youngest Weasley only shrugged. Ron sat down next to Alphonse, who seemed intimidated. Despite being quite tall, he had sunken down into the chair so much, that he was almost on short Mrs Weasley's level.

"Fred, told me you..., hm, helped them earlier," Mr Weasley said, leaning forward so he could see past his wife and look Alphonse in the eye. "Thank you."  
"Oh." The blond blushed a deep red at the earnestness of Mr Weasley's thanks. "It was nothing."

"It was nothing?!" George repeated in an exasperated tone. "He kicked some serious dark wizard ass with that weird magic of his and here he is saying it's nothing"  
"Outrageous!" concurred Fred. "Truly outrageous!" The both looked at him as if asking for an explanation for his out of place modesty. Ron made a dismissive gesture, when his guest looked at him for help.

"Weird Magic?" Hermione looked at the twins beside her, then to Alphonse.  
"It's not magic, it's alchemy" he said automatically. He must get that a lot if he had a standard reply for that question.  
"Like turning lead to gold?" Hermione asked.

"Like the philosopher's stone?" Harry asked.  
Alphonse seemed taken aback by that last one. He took a moment to sort his thoughts.  
"Ah, well," He began. "Making Gold isn't hard, but technically illegal, so..." He shrugged before he turned to Harry and said very seriously: "I have _never_ made a philosopher's stone."

No one said anything. The philosopher's stone seemed to be a very serious subject and she wondered why. What was so terrible to make one? Nicholas Flamel had been the only wizard to ever manufacture one and it was unknown how he did it. She had a feeling Alphonse knew how to make one.

An audible stomach growling came from across the table, which made Alphonse look down as if the table was suddenly very interesting. The tense atmosphere broke and the table erupted into laughter.  
"Okay, settle down." Mrs Weasley said smiling. She grabbed a bowl and filled it almost to the brim with soup. "Here." She handed the blond the bowl, which he gladly took.

Once the spotlight was off him, Alphonse relaxed more, sitting up straighter than before. Hermione sat directly across from him and was in the optimal position to study him without being too suspicious. She noticed several thin white scars on his forearms. They were mainly on the side or on top of his arms and from their dimensions, Hermione guessed they were cuts rather then scrapes. Their positions however were a mystery.

She imagined from what angle a sharp object must come to leave some of them. Her best guess was that they were leftovers defensive wounds, from using his arm to block something sharp.  
When he reached for a sandwich, she saw a red tattoo on his left arm peeking out under the sleeve of the t-shirt. She could not see all of it and wondered what it was.

As they finished the main course, Ron was the first to address the blond again.  
"Alphonse, why did you come back, man?" Ron asked, "Like, not that I'm not grateful, but _why_?"

"When I went back... you know, after you fell in the forest and I brought you home. Some...one?… Someone told me I would come back here… like a premonition. Or something like that. Then two days ago, I was in Xing for my studies, and the next thing I remember is waking up _here_. In the middle of the woods." He gestured towards where he presumed the forest was.

"Okay" Hermione said. "I have several questions." She paused to sort her thoughts and Harry took the opportunity.  
"You fell in the forest and he brought you home. I don't think I have heard that story."

"It was ages ago" Fred interjected before Ron could say anything. "And honestly it sounded bonkers."  
Ron rolled his eyes at him and said, "Look. I didn't tell you guys," he looked at Hermione and Harry, "because they brought me the point where _I_ wasn't even sure it happened"  
Alphonse looked at him with an expression she could not interpret.  
"Okay, so this is what happened." Ron began.

* * *

 _Six years before_

Ron went into the woods behind the burrow to be alone. In a house with so many people, every so often he needed to take a time-out. It was a sunny day but he had taken a jacket along anyway. In the forest, where the sun was partially blocked by the trees it could be cool even in the summer.

He was worried about Harry, who had not answered any of his letters. Maybe the muggles he lived with didn't allow him to send letters? Maybe he didn't want to reply?  
The sound of twigs breaking interrupted his pondering.  
"Hello, is someone there?" he asked into the forest.

He was met with silence. _Maybe I should go back,_ he thought. _I'm already starting to hear things.  
_ "Ehhm, excuse me?" a voice said from behind.  
Ron froze. "Hello?" he asked again.  
There was no motion in the forest that he could see, so where was the voice coming from? The voice had sounded young, but hollow, as if it were travelling through a metal pipe.  
"You can come out, mate." Ron said to the forest. "I won't hurt you."  
The voice didn't answer immediately and Ron really started to think he was really hearing things. As he was about to turn around, when the young Weasley heard:  
"Okay, I'll come out, just don't be afraid." Some bushes rusheled and Ron looked at them.  
"Why would I be a-WOAH!"  
He expected a little boy, instead a huge suit of armour emerged between the trees. Ron stumbled backwards and the armoured person lifted their hands to show that they meant no harm.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," The boy(?) said. "Ehm, excuse me, but, can you tell me where I am?"  
He squatted down so they were at eye level. The armor had a matt gray color and seemed to be made out of metal. A red symbol was painted on the left arm, and brown leather straps held the breastplate in place. It must have been very heavy and he wondered why anyone would wear it, while walking in the forest.

"You're in Ottery St Catchpole, Devon." Ron said when he got his wits together.  
"Oh!" The stranger stood up and looked around, then back at Ron. "I'm sorry, I don't where that is."  
"You're in South England. The United Kingdom... Europe? ...The Earth?"  
The boy did not say anything, but there was a slightly alarmed tone in his voice, when he asked: "Do you maybe have a map?"  
Ron shrugged.  
"At home, probably."

The boy did not say anything. Directly asking a stranger to be taken to their home was not really option, Ron thought.  
"I'm Ron, by the way. What's your name?"  
"I'm Alphonse. Alphonse Elric." He made a little bow. _He is definitely not from here_ , Ron decided. There was pause in which neither of them knew what to say.  
"So… Alphonse, how did you end up in the woods?" He asked as casually as possible, breaking the silence.

"I … lost consciousness and woke up here?" He sounded lost and Ron started to pity him. Alone in the woods, in some place he did not even know . Against better judgement Ron said:  
"Let's go to my place. Maybe my parents can help you instead."  
"Really?!" Alphonse sounded so happy.

They went to the burrow on the shortest way straight through the forest. Ron had grown up in these woods and knew them better than anyone. Well, except for the twins maybe.  
They arrived at the fence that separated the Weasley's garden from the narrow path that came out of the forest and lead towards the city.  
"Where does the street go?" Alphonse up and down the road.

"To town," Ron said pointing out the direction. "And back into the forest."  
"I see."  
"Can you wait here a moment?" Ron opened the fence door and looked up at the stranger. He could not tell, if the other boy was a wizard or not, and the Statute of Secrecy forbade him to ask Alphonse directly. So inviting him into the house would not be a good idea.  
"Yes, no problem." Alphonse said and sat down near the fence.

Ron went to the back door and opened it. The kitchen was empty.  
"Mom?!" he shouted. "I'm back. Do we have a map?"  
He went to the living room to see, if someone was there. "Mom?" He asked again when there was no answer.  
"Where is she?" he thought out loud as he went back to the kitchen. There was a note on the table that he had overlooked before. It read:

 _"_ _Ron,  
_ _Ginny's cold got worse, I have taken her to see the doctor.  
_ _We'll be back soon.  
_ _Ps. Sandwiches are in the fridge_

 _-Love, Mom"_

He went to the living room and looked at the clock there. It hung on the wall next to the kitchen door. Its nine golden hands showed parents and all his siblings. The hands of Bill, Charlie and their father pointed to the label "work", Percy's hand pointed to "with friends", his mother and sister "at the doctor's office" and the twins were "outside". The hand with Ron on it, was alone on the label "home".

"Great." He said to himself. _I will have to find a map by myself,_ he thought.  
"Map," Ron said to himself. He looked around trying to think of where his parents may kept a map. He could hardly show the other boy a wizard book but where would they have a muggle map? Then he remembered his dad hoarding some muggle books in the garage, much to the dismay of his mother who did not understand her husband's obsession. I

n the garage stood the light blue Ford his father had bought and modified with magic. The books lay in a pile in the corner, and the one on the very bottom seemed the most promising. It was a compact encyclopaedia, and Ron found several black and white maps in it.

"I found one," He announced as he ran over to the fence.  
Alphonse stood there and stared at the house. Although Ron could not see his face, he was almost sure that the boy frowned under his helmet.  
"That building should collapse," he stated matter of factly.

"Don't worry about it," Ron said. "Here!"  
He opened the book at the page that showed Europe.  
"We are here." He pointed at their approximate location.  
Alphonse was silent, then suddenly took the encyclopaedia out of Ron's hands. He began to look for something under "A", but ended up going back and forth between two pages before he asked, "Have you ever heard of Amestris?"

"No. What's that?"  
The boy sighed and sank to the ground.  
"Are you ok?" Ron asked slightly alarmed.  
Alphonse was silent for a few moments.

"I'm lost."  
"You not from Europe then?" Ron asked.  
"This may sound weird but..." He hesitated and looked down at a map of the world.  
"… but what?"  
"I don't think I'm from this world."

Ron frowned at the Alphonse. "Like an alien? From outer space?"  
"No. More like..." He looked for words. "A different world; a different earth."  
 _Ok, this guy is clearly insane_ , Ron thought. There is exactly one world and that is this one.  
"That must be why my Alchemy is not working," the boy said to himself.  
"Alchemy? You mean you can do magic too?"

"It's not magic!" Alphonse protested. "It's science, and it doesn't work because of this."  
He held up a black and white map that showed the earth but instead the usual borders it showed lines going around and through continents. The label on top of the double page read "tectonic plates".  
"If the plates are different, the energy flow is different too, but if I …" Alphonse talked to himself, tracing the lines on the page with his gloved finger and nothing made any sense to Ron.

"So-"Ron interrupted his muttering. "If you're from a different world, how did you get here?"  
"I'm not sure," Al had hesitated a bit too long.  
"You're a terrible liar."

"Even if I knew how I got here, there is no guarantee that I could go back the same way." Alphonse closed the book and put it in his lap. His head sunk and Ron felt sympathetic. Even if he was delusional, he seemed genuinely lost and lonely. The wizard wanted to help him get home.  
"Maybe my parents can help you. My father works at the Ministry of Magic." Ron noticed his mistake a moment after the words had already left his mouth. It was automatic for him to say that and for a moment he forgot that the other boy may not know about the wizarding world.

"Ministry of Magic," Alphonse echoed.  
"Ehmmmm...well," Ron stammered.  
"Magic..." The other boy said to himself, looking down at the book in his hand, then to the house.  
 _Oh, what do I do? What do I do_?

"Ahaha… I was just joking," Ron laughed nervously. He could not see the other face, but the chances, that this had convinced him, were small.  
"Ron?!" His mother's voice suddenly came from the house.  
"Be right there!" _Oh Boy, I brought a muggle here and told him about magic_ , Ron thought. _I'm dead_.  
"I'll be back in a sec," he said to Alphonse and ran back to the house.

His mother and sister were in the kitchen. Ginny was wrapped in a blanket, shivering and sickly pale. His mom waved her wand and a chicken, a whole bunch of vegetables and water flew(?) into a big pot.

"There you are," she said. "Get your dirty clothes, I'll wash later, and while you're at it clean your room."  
"But, mom-"  
"No _buts_ , Ronald!" She said in her angry mom voice. "Your room looks like a hoard of trolls camped in there"  
He sighed. "Okay, Okay."

"One second..." She gave him a look which he ignored.  
Ron turned, looked out the back door and slumped against the door frame. Alphonse's metal suit was nowhere to be seen.  
"Oh... bloody hell."

His mother made him do chores all day and he could not bring himself to tell her about his encounter.

 _("Ronald Weasley! You told a muggle about magic, and when he ran away you didn't even-"  
_ _"_ _-Molly." Mr Weasley put a hand on his wife's arm who was half out of her seat. Even thought Ron did not sit next to his mother, he leaned away to put more distance between them. Poor Alphonse, who was caught in the middle, raised his hands defensively and looked nervously at Mrs Weasley on his left._

 _"_ _It was a long time ago and it turned out fine." Mr Weasley tried to calm his wife.  
_ _"_ _Mom, please let Ron finish the story." Ginny said giving her puppy eyes._

 _Mrs Weasley huffed and sat back down. Ron cleared his throat and continued.)_

His mother made him do chores all day and he could not bring himself to tell her about his encounter. After dinner, he packed some sandwiches and snuck out.  
Ron found Alphonse in the forest, not far from where they had first met. He sat on the floor and a little bird perched on his shoulder. As Ron got closer, it flew off and Alphonse looked around to see what had scared it off.

"Alphonse?"  
"Oh, hi, Ron." He sounded melancholy.

Even though he had had time to think about what to say, the young Weasley had not been able to come up with something good to say. He stood there struggling to find something to start with. The young wizard looked down and saw the bag in his hand. Finally Ron settled for: "I brought you something to eat," and held out the bag with the sandwiches for the other to see.

Alphonse looked away and said: "I'm not hungry, Thank you."  
Ron lowered his arm and his shoulders slumped.

"Look. You don't have to be out here. My parents can help you get home, wherever that is!"  
The other boy was silent for a moment, then he asked soberly: "It's a secret that you're wizards, isn't it?"  
Ron was silent and looked away to inspect a tree root in more detail.

"I went to the town and the people there think magic doesn't exist."  
"You asked them about magic?!" Ron had almost dropped the bag. _Oh Azkaban, here I come.  
_ "I didn't tell them about you, don't worry." Alphonse said. "It's not like they would believe that anyway."

Ron was somewhat relieved. Maybe he would not go to Azkaban for exposing the wizarding world after all. _Bless the muggles and their ignorance,_ he thought.  
"Yes, the muggles don't know about Magic" he confirmed. "Oh… we call the non magic people… Muggles." he added as an afterthought.

"Ron." Alphonse looked up at him. The little breeze that blew through the trees was cool. Even in summer, the nights got chilly. He pulled his light jacket tighter and wondered if Alphonse in his suit of armor, sitting on the floor was not cold. _Maybe it had some sort of heating?_ , he thought.  
"Yes?"  
Alphonse stood up and faced Ron. The boy looked down, fidgeting with something. Ron did not want to push him, so he endured the silence until Alphonse looked up at his face and said: "If I... _also_ tell you a secret... would you promise me, that you won't be scared?"

"Yeah, sure." Ron frowned. "Why would I be afraid?"  
"It's… well… never mind. Just," Alphonse sounded strained. "Just don't look away, okay?"

Ron felt a shiver running down his spin, he swallowed and nodded. Alphonse placed his hands on the helmet and took it off. Ron needed a moment to process what he saw. He had expected to see a young face appear under the helmet, but instead he stared into a dark void. The amour was empty.

Ron felt like ice water had replaced his blood. He stumbled backwards, his eyes wide with fear and shock.  
"Ron?" The disembodied voice came out of the hole in armour still sounding like a little boy.

The young wizard turned around and ran into the forest. The sun was already setting, and dense leaf canopy blocked almost all the light making it hard for him to see where he was stepping. Not that he cared; the Weasley was terrified. His father's words rang in his head: _Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain._

Suddenly his foot hit something, a tree root maybe, and he fell to the ground.  
Ron's knees and hands hurt so badly that for a moment there was only pain, blocking out all other sensations.  
"Ron?" He heard from behind followed by "Oh no!"

The suit ran over to him and kneeled down next to him. "Are you ok?"  
A hand was on his shoulder, and Ron knocked it away. "Don't touch me!"

"Please! Let me explain!"  
Ron tried to get up but his joints arched badly, causing him to sink back to the ground. He could not get away right now.  
"...Fine"

The suit gathered some dry twigs from around and built a fire in no time.  
"My brother and I, we tried to bring our mother back to life and failed. He lost an arm and a leg, and I became like this."

Alphonse told him about alchemy, some kind of weird magic he had never heard about, and its limitations; about how they were trying to right their wrongs and how his soul may have started to reject the inanimate object it was bound to. Ron did not know what to think; it all sounded ludicrous to him.

The fire was almost burnt down and Ron shivered, which the other saw. Alphonse looked up at the sky that was only visible through the gaps between the tree tops.  
"It's getting late, you should go home"

Ron nodded and tried to get up, but his right knee hurt badly, when he put his weight on it.  
"Does it still hurt?" Alphonse sounded worried.  
Ron looked down at his pants. The fall had not damaged them, but there was dried mud all over them. He would have preferred some ripped jeans and scraped knees over intact jeans and damaged knees.

"... I don't think I can walk home." He said finally.  
"...I can carry you," Alphonse offered. "If you want."  
Ron stared into the dying fire. He was not too keen on being carried, but the Burrow was about 20 minutes away by foot and with his knee acting up he would have a hard time getting there. He swallowed his pride and nodded.

Alphonse extinguished the fire, then came over and picked him up carefully.  
The almost full moon illuminated the night just enough for them to see their surroundings.

"Oh… Maybe a torch would have been good," Alphonse thought out loud.  
"There's a path over there," Ron pointed into the direction. "It'll be better there."

This turned out to be correct. The dirt path was mainly used by the muggles to move their huge machines into the forest. The trees on either side of the road had been trimmed to make way, so now there were no leaves overhead that could block the moonlight. After a few minutes in Alphonse' arms he could feel the metal beginning to suck his warmth through his clothes and Ron began to shiver.

"I'm sorry" Alphonse said depressed.  
Ron looked up at the helmet and said softly: "It's not your fault."

The young alchemist did not say anything and just continued to follow the path out of the forest.  
The burrow came into sight, a whole bunch of its many windows illuminated. So his family was still awake, probably waiting for him.  
The boy carried him to the edge of the garden and set him down.  
"Can you walk from here?" Alphonse asked.

"I think so," Ron said, carefully bending his knees. Alphonse took a step back and looked in the direction that they had come from. "Aren't you coming inside?"  
"No, I'll have to find a way back on my own." He did not meet Ron's eyes.  
"But-"  
"No offence to your parents, but if all wizards react like you did? They'll disassemble me... or worse." He look at Ron and the young wizard knew he was correct. There was no way the Ministry of Magic would not want to know how this foreign magic worked. Alphonse turned towards the woods.  
Ron looked at the ground. "Good luck."

"Thank you and goodbye." He watched as the alchemist walked back the path that led into the forest. The moon was hanging low in the star speckled sky now and he felt extremely cold but he still did not move from his place. Ron just stood there alone, at the garden fence, and quietly said into the night:  
"Goodbye, Alphonse."

* * *

"So that's where my book went!" Mr Weasley exclaimed slamming his hand on the table. He accidentally hit his fork, which flung a piece of pie into Hermione's cup like a little catapult. "Sorry, Hermione," Mr Weasley handed her an unused cup before looking back at the blond who smiled apologetically.  
Alphonse rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a notebook and the encyclopaedia.

"It was big help. Thank you." He gave Mr Weasley the book back.  
Alphonse laid the notebook on the table and opened it where a photo was tucked between the pages. Hermione caught a fleeting glimpse at the neat handwriting inside before Alphonse closed it again.  
"Wanna see?" he said as he offered Ron the photo.  
"I wanna see too!" One of the twins whined craning his neck.

Ron handed the photo to Ginny and Hermione leaned over to look at it too. The photo showed two people: Alphonse and another man, both in sleeveless shirts smiling brightly at the camera. The two had almost the same eye and hair color, but the other man's hair was long and tied in a high ponytail. Despite looking very similar at first glance, she noticed other differences too. Alphonse' face was slightly rounder giving him a more gentle look and he was a little bit taller. The other man had a big scar on his shoulder that went vertically down and disappeared behind the collar of his shirt.

"That's Edward —my older brother— and I about one and half years ago."  
"Alphonse, how did you get back?" Ron asked when the blond tucked the photo back into his notebook.  
"Hmm... the same way I came: I suddenly lost consciousness and woke up in my world."  
He looked at the table. "But I think I know why I'm here this time."

"It wasn't a coincidence you mean?" Mr Weasley said.  
Alphonse nodded. "It sounds pretty far fetched but-" he stopped. "Well, when an Alchemist performs a human transmutation, a gate opens."  
"A gate?"

"I didn't tell you this last time because I didn't want you to think I was insane. Anyways, you are pulled into the gate and you meet this entity-"  
"Like God?"  
"I wouldn't say that, per se, but _something_ very powerful. We call it Truth. Well, when I got back to my world, I had a short run-in with it. The memory is pretty foggy, but Truth said something about someone cheating death." Alphonse shrugged. "Does that make sense to you?"

He looked around the table into the faces of the wizards. Everyone had the same thought but Harry was the one who said it out loud: "That Sounds like Voldemort with his horcruxes," Harry said, and upon seeing Alphonse's confused face he added: "He split his soul into multiple parts, and could only die if all of them were destroyed."

Even though the dark wizard was gone now, they still cringed at the mention of his name. Alphonse pondered this information as an owl swooped in. It landed on Mrs Weasley's shoulder and she took the note out of its beak as the non-wizard gaped at the bird.  
"We can take Percy home now." She said smiling at her husband who gave her a little side hug.

Hermione saw Alphonse became wary at the mention of "home".  
"Alphonse, how will you... get home?", she asked carefully. Everyone's attention was on him again and he thought about this for a moment.  
"I don't think I have influence over how and when I get back." He looked down at the table and Ron said: "So, it could be a while."

Alphonse nodded. "Possibly."  
Mrs Weasley leaned over and put an arm around his shoulders.  
"Don't worry, sweetie. You can stay with us a long as you need to," Mrs Weasley said smiling warmly at him. The prospect of staying with the big family seemed to console him for the moment, because he smiled back.

"Thank you."

* * *

 **A/N:**

Has been awarded with "That's the most kickass thing I've ever seen anyone write Alphonse doing. Holy sh*t."

Thank you for reading! I feel like this kind of crossover (Fma/HP) is one of the most natural ones, which is why I am writing another one xD

Many thanks to wrexie and Jen for all the helpful comments!


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